19 Accused in This Religious Order
Br. Harold Ehlinger
Accused in multiple lawsuits pending in 11/2023 of sexually boys at Madonna Manor. Subject of previous settlements. A social worker at the facility in 1980 reported Ehlinger to her supervisor after boys in her care disclosed abuse by the Brother, and after she knocked on Ehlinger's dormitory bedroom and saw a "flustered child" there with him. Ehlinger then "disappeared." The social worker saw several years later that Ehlinger was working with children at a Catholic school. One lawsuit alleges a boy was abused by several men, including Ehlinger. He said the men would put a pillow over his face or wear masks during rapes to hide their identities. Reportedly is last known in 11/2023 to be living at a Holy Cross house in Austin, TX.
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Br. Joseph Alfonse Comperchio
Reportedly was a Holy Cross Brother at Notre Dame, South Bend IN for one year. Continued to use the name "Brother Joe" as a Catholic school teacher after leaving the order. In 1/2019 the Lansing Diocese received an allegation that Comperchio had sexually abused a 3rd- to 6th-grade boy at St. John the Evangelist School in Jackson MI in 1973-1976. Comperchio's accuser said he saw Comperchio sexually assaulting four other boys while in fifth grade. He said that when he was 21 he reported the abuse to a priest at St. Johns, but no action. In 12/2019 police were told by a man that he was sexually abused by Comperchio in 1977 as a St. John's 6th-grader. He said he believed that Comperchio also sexually abused his friend. The man also told investigators that he confronted Comperchio as an adult in 2000, while on a business trip to Boston, and Comperchio apologized. Comperchio had moved to Boston MA in the late 1970s or early 1980s, after which he relocated to Ft. Meyers, FL; he taught there at a private school. In 2/2020 an investigator interviewed a man the Diocese said may have been a victim; the man acknowledged that he was abused. In 2/2020 a woman told police that Comperchio touched her breast in a St. John's bathroom when she was a young student there. A classmate witness to the incident said he touched her also, all over, when instructing her to do a "banana dance" during class. (He was a drama teacher.) Comperchio was arrested 9/14/2020 in Fort Myers. He admitted to the abuse and was extradited to MI. Pleaded guilty in 6/2021. Sentenced in 8/2021 to 10-20 years in prison and to register as a sex offender. He died 6/2/2022.
Br. Donald DeFore
Per the Archdiocese of Los Angeles report in 2004, DeFore was accused of abusing a minor 1977-1978.
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Br. Dan Dobbins
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Br. Donald J. DuFour
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Br. Richard Hurley
Named in the Los Angeles Archdiocesan Report Addendum, with one accuser alleging abuse in 1993-1994. Civil suit filed. Died 10/25/2004. in Austin TX. (Mistakenly noted as in active in ministry on the Archdiocese's list in 12/2021.) Per Hurley's obituary, "most of [his] ministry was in boys' work as a counselor at Rancho San Antonio, Chatsworth CA." He also worked in WY, OR and in the Army in Europe during WWII.
Br. Donald Kuchenmeister
Per the Michigan Attorney General's 12/2024 Diocese of Lansing Report, in 11/2008 a man told the Diocese that he was sexually abused as a child by Kuchenmeister when he was a resident of Boysville in Clinton MI in 1971. The man said that Kuchenmeister fondled him and also sexually abused other boys. There was no prosecution due to the statute of limitations. In 2016 Kuchenmeister was awarded the Cross of St. James Award, presented by the Archbishop of Santiago, for his three decades of contribution to the Archdiocese and social work. Kuchenmeister arrived in Chile in 1983 to help with his order's children's home in Talagante. He later helped found a children's home in Penalolen, and was its director for 15 years. In 2021 Kuchenmeister remained active in Santiago, Chile, where he was honored on the 60th anniversary of his final vows.
Br. John McMuldren
Br. Lewis Morrow
Br. Gerald Muller
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Br. Thomas J. Mulryan
Br. Lawrence O’Brien
Br. Frederick Raehsler
Br. Joseph Franklin Reagan
Br. Stanley Repucci
Accused in a 7/21 lawsuit of sexually abusing a boy, age 10 or 11, in 1968 or 1969, at Holy Cross School summer camp in New Orleans. Repucci is deceased.
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Br. Ernest Rodie
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Br. Lawrence Sandstrom
Left the order in 1997. Accused of abuse of five boys 1955-1969, per the 2004 Archdiocesan report. Two civil suits in 12/2003 alleging abuse 1967-1969. Accusations involved children at Maryvale, which was a Catholic orphanage in Rosemead. Later went on to work at La Salle High School in Pasadena and other Catholic schools in Hayward and New Orleans. Accused in 2003 of abuse at Rancho San Antonio in Chatsworth in the 1960s. Settlement with two men in 2007. Personnel file released in 2013. Died in 3/2021.
Br. Thomas Sawyer
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Br. John D. Walsh
